MNA – Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian has said that Iran and Turkey have reached agreement on electricity swap, adding that the volume of electricity exports to neighboring Turkey will increase.

Iranian and Turkish energy ministers discussed resumption of trading electricity between the two sides in their meeting in Ankara on Monday evening on the sidelines of the trilateral Syria summit.

Speaking in an inaugurating ceremony in southwestern Province of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari on Tuesday, the Iranian Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian said that he had held separate bilateral talks with Turkish and Russian counterparts in Ankara yesterday to discuss advancing the economic plans between Iran-Turkey and Iran-Russia.

Ardakanian said that with the approval of the Russian president, Russia will finance a 1400-megawatt thermal power plant in Iran's Sirik County in Hormozgan Province, and the electrification of Garmsar-Incheboron railway valued at € 2.3 billion.

The Iranian energy minister added he will travel to Moscow within the next two months as the head of Iran-Russia joint commission for economic cooperation to discuss the projects.

He further reported of resumption of electricity swap with Turkey, saying that the volume of electricity exports to neighboring Turkey will increase from the current level of 640 MW to 1,280 MW.

He went on to say that cooperation with neighboring countries including Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Iraq in the field of electricity provides Iran with a special opportunity, especially for the private sector of the country to thrive.